Wednesday, January 4, 2012

UWG Men's Hoops Gains National Ranking; Big Home Games Coming Thursday and Saturday

The new year brings exciting things for the UWG men's basketball team, as the Wolves have returned to the national rankings for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

UWG entered the 2011-12 rankings at 25th in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches' Poll, released Tuesday.

The ranking is the first for UWG since Dec. 4, 2007, during head coach Michael Cooney's first year at the helm of the program. The Wolves that year opened the season with four straight victories and entered the rankings at 24th, then moved up to 21st before falling out for the remainder of the season.

UWG enters Gulf South Conference play with a pair of home games starting Thursday against North Alabama at 7:30 p.m., which will be preceded by the UWG women's team taking on North Alabama at 5:30 p.m. Then Saturday, UWG's women play Alabama-Huntsville at 2 p.m., with the men tipping off at 4 p.m. Alabama-Huntsville's men's team is ranked 13th nationally.

This year, the Wolves have made a strong statement both regionally and nationally with a 13-1 start to the season. UWG is coming off two dramatic wins in the 37th-Annual Tangerine Tournament in Winter Park, Fla., besting California (Pa.) last Thursday by a 67-57 count, then winning the tourney championship with a 58-56 victory over Lake Erie on Friday.

The top five teams in this week's poll are No. 1 Metro State, with Southern Indiana second, followed by Lincoln Memorial, Kentucky Wesleyan and Bellarmine.

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